This invention relates to a process for the production of 1,2,3-trichloropropane by reacting allyl chloride with sulfuryl chloride in the presence of a catalyst.
Chlorination of allyl chloride to 1,2,3-trichloropropane with sulfuryl chloride has been possible, according to the prior art only in the presence of catalytically effective amounts of peroxide compounds (JACS 61:2145 [1939]; JACS 61:3433 [1939]; U.S. Pat. No. 2,302,228). Such free radical chlorination, however, proceeds with low selectivity. Even when a fourfold excess of allyl chloride is used in such processes, when the total yields of chlorination products are 80%, only 37% of the product distribution consists of 1,2,3-trichloropropane (U.S. Pat. No. 2,302,228, Example 4). Higher yields are attainable only when the reaction mixture is diluted considerably with, for example, CCl.sub.4 in a weight proportion of at least 1:1. Here, too, the reaction is possible only in the presence of peroxide compounds, and yields of 1,2,3-trichloropropane are 80-90% (JACS 61:3433 [1939]).
These methods are industrially unsatisfactory because they provide unacceptably low selectivity and/or an unacceptably low space-time yield.